Performance evaluation of differential accelerating rate calorimeter for the thermal runaway reaction of di-tert-butyl peroxide

The thermal behavior of di-tert-butyl peroxide (DTBP) has been studied by accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC), in order to obtain a better understanding of novel differential accelerating rate calorimetry (d-ARC) developed by OmniCal Inc. presently. Thermal analysis, kinetic analysis, and estimation of time to maximum rate (TMRad) of 5-20 mass% DTBP and toluene mixture were performed and compared with the past reports. From the experimental results, moderately hazardous mixture which was evaluated inaccurately by the conventional ARC was analyzed successfully by d-ARC. Kinetic parameters were determined to be 153-164 kJ mol(-1) of the activation energy and 3.3E+17 to 3.3E+18 min(-1) of the frequency factor by d-ARC, and agreed with the past reports. Meanwhile, the kinetics of low-concentrated DTBP mixture were calculated to be incorrect value by the conventional ARC. Furthermore, TMRad of low-concentrated DTBP mixture was successfully estimated by d-ARC, while incorrect estimations were obtained by the conventional ARC. It was concluded that d-ARC has better performance of adiabatic calorimetry and is useful tool of the thermal risk assessment for chemical process safety.